TransCo rebidding seen within this year

Newly appointed Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) president Jose Ibazeta hinted yesterday that the rebidding of the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) could be done this year.

"Maybe by mid-2007 we could start going through the process. The processes, if you’re to bid, are many, but we will try to bid it out as fast as possible. The fastest maybe would be by the end of this year," Ibazeta told a press conference.

He, however, admitted that the process would take some time as he has to make his own inputs in the existing rules to make TransCo more palatable to investors.

"What I want to do is to enhance the rules, but I still have to review the rules. I don’t know specifically what the objections of the bidder or the bidders are in order to address their issues," he said.

He said the timetable of the bidding will also depend on whether they decide to get a congressional franchise before or after the bid process.

"If I can, I’d rather do it this year, but my objective is do it as fast as possible. Realistically, I think we can do it. The direction of whether to get a franchise first, if they decide to get a franchise first, then you’d have to wait," he said.

He said, PSALM under his leadership, will try to apply some marketing strategies to entice other bidders to come in.

"There will be no difference in the previous bids. We may not need to go on international road shows. I have a good network of people, which is maybe why I’m here," he said.

"When you do a bidding, there’s a marketing effort there. In this situation, I would actually like to go out and look for potential bidders and tell them to come into the Philippines and look at the windows of opportunities," he added.

The new PSALM chief said one of his major objectives is to be able to get the best price for the government.

"My objective here is that the government gets the top price regardless of who I know across the table. I intend to get the maximum price for this asset," he said.

"And the bottom line of that, the proof of the pudding, is in the bid price. Whoever has the highest bid wins, regardless if I know them or not. It’s them who will be faced with the problem if they cannot make it profitable. But they have to come up with the best price," he added.

Ibazeta recently assumed the top post in PSALM, the agency tasked to privatize the assets and manage the liabilities of the National Power Corp. (Napocor). He replaced Nieves Osorio who officially stepped down on Feb. 28 after a year and seven months in office.